A new, peer-reviewed, open access resource, Northern and Indigenous Health and Healthcare, was launched on October 1st. It is organized and edited by the University of the Arctic Thematic Network on Northern Nursing Education, and supported by the Norwegian Centre for International Cooperation in Education; the University of Saskatchewan; UiT The Arctic University of Norway; and the Rebus Foundation.

The provision of northern health care entails many unique challenges and circumstances that are rarely represented in mainstream health sciences education. 

This OpenEd Resource provides accessible content on health and health care from a northern perspective for the growing number of health professionals being educated in northern communities.

Open Education Resources are defined as: “teaching, learning, and research resources that reside in the public domain or have been released under an intellectual property license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.” Open Education Resources allow users to freely access, adapt/revise, and share pedagogically appropriate learning materials, allowing instructors and learners to shape course content and meet the needs of specific learning contexts.

The OpenEd Resource is divided into five themes:

  • Community Health in Northern and Indigenous Communities
  • Social Determinants and Structural Impacts on Northern and Indigenous Health
  • Culture and Health
  • Innovations in Northern Health Care
  • Professional Practice in Northern and Indigenous Communities

The learning objectives for this OpenEd Resource include:

  • Understanding the unique healthcare needs and professional responsibilities that result from remoteness and population sparsity;
  • Identifying the social, environmental and cultural aspects of a community that inform and impact care needs;
  • Appreciating traditional and Indigenous medicines and approaches to healing as part of a holistic care system; and
  • Exploring the similarities and differences in northern health care across the circumpolar region.

Northern and Indigenous Health and Healthcare is available online at openpress.usask.ca/northernhealthcare, on the UArctic Northern Nursing Education Network’s website, and in Open Access Repositories such as BC Campus. Print versions are available on a cost-recovery basis.

 

Editors: Heather Exner-Pirot, Bente Norbye, and Lorna Butler

For more information contact Dr. Heather Exner-Pirot at: heather.exner@usask.ca or +1 306 966-5770